Bond review denied pending supervision request

District Judge Glenn Braun on Wednesday refused to lower the bond for a Hays man charged with sex crimes involving a child.

But he said he’d be willing to drop the bond to $25,000 for Chance C. Keiswetter, 25, if community corrections is willing to put him under their supervision program.

No one from community corrections had the chance to talk with Keiswetter prior to the Wednesday morning court hearing.

Wichita attorney Jess Hoeme made the request to Braun, telling the judge Keiswetter isn’t a flight risk because he has little available money and has been a lifetime resident of Hays.

Keiswetter faces two counts of electronic solicitation. One of those charges involves a person less than 14 years old, making it a Level 1 felony. The second solicitation charge involves someone more than 14 years old.

He also faces a felony charge of sexual exploitation of a child.

In his request to lower the bond, Hoeme said Keiswetter has less cash available to him than first thought.

“So he doesn’t have very much money,” he said. “If he is allowed to be released, he will return to his mother’s residence.”

Hoeme said Keiswetter was born and raised in Hays.

“I don’t think he’s going to go anywhere,” he said.

Braun listened as Hoeme argued for the reduction, and then asked what bond Hoeme might consider suitable.

“I would ask the court for a $25,000 cash surety bond,” he said.

Braun said he won’t agree to reducing the bond until after community corrections gets the chance to determine if Keiswetter will be accepted into their program.

If community corrections is willing, he said, he’ll be willing to lower the bond to $25,000.

In addition to any restrictions imposed by community corrections, Braun told Keiswetter not to go near a computer.

“You are to not have a computer or access to a computer,” he said. “You cannot get on a computer. Yours or someone else’s, or your mother’s.”

Keiswetter, who had been sitting silently throughout the hearing, nodded his head.

Braun also told him to stay away from any phone with Internet access.

Breaking the rules, he said, will put Keiswetter “back in orange sitting over in the jail.”